Items tagged with NOR
NAND Flash and SSDs have become the darling of enthusiasts in recent years, thanks to a potent combination of improved read/write performance, virtually no latency, and lower power consumption compared to hard drives. A new report from the University of California San Diego, however, casts doubt on the long-term scalability of the format. The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS)' most recent report backs up such statements. Flash's fundamental problem is that the same technological innovations that are improving performance, power consumption, and cutting costs are also biting into its durability. The problem is illustrated in the graph below. Note that the best results,...
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IBM is one of a number of companies working on a next-generation storage memory project. A recent discovery at Texas A&M University is a step forward for the company's racetrack memory. Racetrack memory relies on a nanowire arranged perpendicular to the chip. Current pulses across the nanowires allow data to be shifted as necessary. The Texas team has discovered a way to pulse the current much more efficiently and quickly, which could definitely help future racetrack devices to compete in the marketplace. In theory, racetrack memory could be the Holy Grail of storage, capable of replacing both traditional hard drives and SSDs simultaneously. Flash-based storage will never be able to...
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NOR doesn't receive nearly the attention that NAND does in the memory world, but it's just as important for companies in the industry. In many ways, the two technologies are similar, but two main differences set them apart: first, the connections of the individual memory cells are different, and secondly, the interface provided for reading and writing the memory is different (NOR allows random-access for reading, NAND allows only page access). Why's this important? Because Micron, a mainstay in the sector, just announced their intentions to purchase Numonyx, which is a rather pricey way to get back into NOR in a big way. Numonyx was a major player in the NOR industry, and Micron has been holding...
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You may have never heard of Spansion, but we'd be willing to wager that you've heard of Fujitsu and Advanced Micro Devices. As it turns out, Spansion was jointly set up by AMD and Fujitsu, who own 8.7 percent and 11.4 percent of the company, respectively. Also of note, Spansion is the world's largest maker of NOR-type flash memory with a market share of about 40 percent. Oh, and today its Japanese subsidiary is filing for bankruptcy protection.Just weeks after DRAM maker Qimonda waved the white flag, yet another low-key -- but remarkably influential -- tech company has caved to the pressures of today's economy. The US-based outfit has stated that the Japanese unit's filing does not "materially"...
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Sometimes a "very, very, very small minority" can have a big impact--especially if that minority is a very, very, very vocal one. A week and a half ago, Netflix announced that it would be killing off its Profiles feature. But following the outpouring of a not-so-silent minority who were less-than thrilled with this decision, Netflix has done an about-face and now reports that Netflix Profiles has been not only been granted a stay of execution, but a full pardon. The following e-mail went out to some Netflix users today:The Netflix Community Blog further reports on this issue by stating:"We were persuaded by the well-reasoned, sincere responses of loyal members who very much value this feature....
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Those looking forward to the July 1st introduction of a teenage cell phone ban in California should start looking elsewhere for comfort. An Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study released on Monday, which took a look at the results of a 2006 North Carolina ban for drivers younger than age 18, showed that teenagers were just as likely to chat on the phone after the ban went into effect as before.Targeting inexperienced motorists, several states have passed laws during the past five years restricting cell phone use by teenage drivers.But an insurance industry study being released Monday that looked at whether teens are ignoring such restrictions contends enforcement and parental influence...
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Oh yeah. Alienware knows where the cutting edge is, and it isn't spreadsheets. They've reached out to the inner Nomad in all of us with their outrageous prototype curved DLP display, with a 2880 x 900 resolution screen. That is not a typo. They've got video of some lucky fellow blasting away from the Consumer Electronics Show here....
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Although a GPS unit lost a recent court battle against a radar gun, in this case GPS units might be used to enforce speed limits.Each car will have a special digital map of the city downloaded into their sat-navs, which has all the road speeds listed. The plan is that the proposed ISA device will then pinpoint the driver’s location and tell if they are exceeding the limit.It will stop them from going too fast by taking control of the accelerator pedal and vibrating the throttle, or giving an audible warning to let drivers know they’re speeding. A TfL spokesman stressed it’s only a pilot project scheduled to last two years. But a line in the bid document, seen by Auto Express, says the organisation...
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It appears there are a number of threads at HP's support forums. These forums posts first started in June 2007, and there is no official HP solution yet. In fact, customers are helping themselves, or at least trying, but there appears to be little or no HP response on the forums.Tipped off by a reader, David Berlind investigates what appears to be a serious problem with the Wi-Fi feature on some Pavilion notebooks. Despite many customer complaints listed on HP's website over a period of nearly five months, there's been little response from HP. Instead, customers have banded together on the forum to figure out remedies for the problems.Disappointingly, some...
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For years the defense department and even some large corporations have utilized games as a method of teaching people various trade tasks. It appears that miners are perhaps the newest recipients of 'video game' based training.Considering the staggering cost of serious mining equipment (think 7 and 8 figures each), the idea of training and even employment pre-qualification on a virtual platform might make sense. It certainly seems that it makes sense to Caterpillar, who brought their video game 'simulation' to Peru this week for a mining convention. Apparently the new training method earned some new fans:“Giant video games with throaty diesel engines powering monster-sized earth movers, excavators...
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Lucky and Flo (pictured) were the first dogs trained to sniff out optical discs by their chemical composition. They were loaned to the Malaysian government in March by the Motion Picture Association. They were so good at their job, in fact, that a bounty of $29,000 was put out on them. They've finished their 6-month assignment in Malaysia and are on their way home back to America. Malaysia gave a hero’s send-off Monday to Lucky and Flo, honoring the two DVD-sniffing dogs with medals as they ended a six-month assignment that netted 1.6 million illegal movie discs. The two black Labradors looked puzzled when a multitude of press photographers’ flash bulbs went off as Malaysia’s...
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IBM has pioneered a new method to make chips that essentially assemble themselves into a usable framework. It should yield a savings in power consumption and a goose in speed. The technique works by coating a silicon wafer with a layer of a special polymer that when baked, naturally forms trillions of uniformly tiny holes just 20 nanometers, or millionth of a millimeter, across. The resulting pattern is used to create the copper wiring on top of a chip and the insulating gaps that let electricity flow smoothly. A similar process is seen in nature during the formation of snowflakes, tooth enamel and seashells, IBM said. Should be out in the...
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Unlike previous version of Windows, that only required a valid, older CD to be inserted to verify ownership, upgrade versions of Windows Vista require a previous OS installation to function. A workaround for this issue was posted to web within hours of Vista's release, however, that didn't require an older OS at all. It was initially thought that MS would do something right away to eliminate the workaround, but now that doesn't seem to be the case... "Microsoft will not close a loophole that offers consumers a cheaper way to upgrade to Windows Vista. As vnunet.com reported last week, users can install the upgrade version...
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You have to see this technology in action to believe it and get the full effect. This demonstration is about as jaw-dropping as we've seen here for any technology in a very long time. And the speed of the interface is amazing as well... "Jeff Han demonstrates his intuitive, "interface-free," touch-driven computer screen. Working all but alone from his hardware-strewn office, Jeff Han is about to change the face of computing. Not even the big boys are likely to catch him." Vista? Who needs Vista? Read the article on the man behind this amazing technology at: www.fastcompany.com...
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